"The only complaint we've had from the local neighbors is, they don't like us parking on the road. And so we kind of cured that, which is good. I think it makes us fit in better with the neighborhood," Hann said.

"Eventually, we want to formalize that parking lot and maybe get a pavilion and a restroom installed. It's not really a real park until you can have people show up, park, be able to enjoy themselves, be able to go to the bathroom, be able to get a drink of water," he said.

The Grapefruit Trails offer challenging terrain for mountain bikers, BMX bikers and trail runners along a 3/4 mile stretch of the southern bank of the C-1 Canal, between Babcock Street and Interstate 95.

In 2014, Palm Bay officials inked a 99-year lease with the Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District, designating the Grapefruit Trails — which had been enjoyed by bikers for roughly 30 years — as a public recreational facility.

The park was recently threatened by the St. Johns River Water Management District's $1.6 million project that restructured the C-1 Canal banks.

Next, BMBA officials hope to create a trail along the canal that connects the Grapefruit Trails with Turkey Creek Sanctuary to the east. This new network could someday serve as a smaller version of Santos Mountain Bike Park near Ocala.

"We'd like to get that done in the next year as an off-road system. It's all public property," Hann said.

Jason Stroble, 32, a software engineer from Melbourne is one of the regular riders at the Grapefruit Trails in Palm Bay.(Photo: Photo by: Nick Maldonado)

"And that would give the Grapefruit Trails something that they don't have right now, which is cross-country content — easier trails. The Grapefruit Trails are very hard, and the (Turkey) Creek trails are moderate. Hooking them together gives you a system that lets you pick anything," he said.